I do have issues with the current idea that anyone is fair game if they're in cell phone camera range. I believe people should have the right to reasonable privacy even if they're out and about as long as they're minding their own business.

However, as much as I may disagree with it, the reality is that what constitutes "out in public" today is quite a lot bigger than what it was even ten or fifteen years ago. Then the only ones who would ever have known this had taken place would be the passenger, the conductor, the fellow passengers, and whoever they told and the incident would have faded away. Now, it's available for viewing all over the world and it's a little part of history.

I do have issues with the current idea that anyone is fair game if they're in cell phone camera range. I believe people should have the right to reasonable privacy even if they're out and about as long as they're minding their own business.

However, as much as I may disagree with it, the reality is that what constitutes "out in public" today is quite a lot bigger than what it was even ten or fifteen years ago. Then the only ones who would ever have known this had taken place would be the passenger, the conductor, the fellow passengers, and whoever they told and the incident would have faded away. Now, it's available for viewing all over the world and it's a little part of history.

I wish I had seen the beginning of the incident. I have no way of knowing how out of line she was.

Also, I think it was unfair that they said she "berated" the conductor. Berating means she scold or condemn. To me it seems she was more just sticking up for herself (in the most obnoxious way possible). But she didn't say anything negative about the conductor, or belittle her in anyway. She was more just saying "I know how to behave because I'm educated: so I wouldn't have done anything that deserves this treatment". But it was poorly executed.

I'm glad cell phones were not around when I was young, stupid and arrogant. (That's opposed to being middle-aged, aware of at least some of my stupidity and convinced that the right answer is usually somewhere between the extremes.)

Seriously, the woman in the video was acting like a fool. And yet I shudder to think of some of the things I said and did when I was convinced I had all the answers. I know I have more than one incidence where I was mouthy. And occasionally I was in the right, but a video snapshot rarely tells the whole story.

So while I think this woman was wrong, and I believe she needs a serious attitude adjustment, I don't think she needs to suffer the rest of her life for it. Everyone deserves a chance to learn from their mistakes.

I don't think this is a modern problem. It used to be that if you misbehaved everyone in your circle would know about it and there was potential for shunning. As people have become more annonymous our ability to share their bad behavior has also increased. Our world has in some ways shrunk because we're connected to more people, with all the good and bad that entails.

I do believe that if you are minding your own business in public it would be rude to film you, but if you're acting out you should probably accept that as a consequence.